The Oyo State Police Command reported the arrest of 41 individuals for various crimes, including armed robbery, rituals, kidnapping, murder, and car-snatching.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Ayodele Sonubi, said this on Friday at the Police Headquarters in Ibadan, while briefing newsmen on the command’s recent achievements.
Sonubi said that his men recovered different cars, motorcycles and dangerous weapons from the suspects.
He listed the other items to include 11 exotic vehicles, two Ak-47 rifles, 1,346 pieces of 7.62 live rounds of ammunition and N16 million cash, amongst others.
He said that the suspects were arrested at different locations in the state.
The state police boss added that a team of police operatives attached to the Monitoring Unit, acting on a credible report, intercepted a Toyota Camry car on the Oyo-Ibadan Expressway.
He said that the car was suspected to have been snatched from its owner.
According to him, the only occupant of the car was unable to give satisfactory explanation regarding its ownership.
“The suspect was arrested and, upon further interrogation, confessed that the vehicle was snatched from its owner and given to him by one of his co-syndicate members to be delivered to their criminal receiver in Kaduna State.
“Further investigation later led to the arrest of the kingpins of the gang and six additional members of their inter-state car-snatching cartel.
“Exotic vehicles recovered include three Highlander Jeeps, one Toyota Camry car, one Lexus 330 car, one Toyota Corolla car and one Elantra Hyundai car, which they confessed to have snatched from their owners.
“One K2 rifle and 90 parcels of illicit drugs were equally recovered from the suspects,” he said.
Sonubi further said that the command, while on an intelligence-based stop-and-search operation within the Ibadan metropolis, intercepted a Toyota Corolla car and when the car was searched, a sealed bag was discovered to contain a large cache of new AK-47 rifles.
He said that the two suspects in the car were unable to give satisfactory explanations about the prohibited ammunition, hence were arrested and subjected to further investigations.
“Upon interrogations, they confessed to be members of a gun-running cartel, which imports various types of sophisticated firearms into the country through the border and supply them to different criminal syndicates.
“Further investigation later led to the arrest of the syndicate’s kingpin in his hideout within Ibadan metropolis, where he was waiting to receive the illegally imported ammunition.
“A huge sum of N16 million cash, which he later confessed was to be paid to the suspects earlier arrested, upon receiving the ammunition, was recovered from him,” he said.
In a related incident, no fewer than seven members of a suspected armed robbery syndicate reportedly invaded the Kuola area of Ibadan.
The suspects allegedly attacked several houses, stole valuables, and killed a night security guard while fleeing the community. The suspects were later arrested in their hideouts, and two live cartridges allegedly used in the crime were recovered.
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